The present invention relates to electronic communication systems, and, more particularly, to a system and method for providing toll-free, local communication between a person within a vehicle and a passenger who has left the vehicle.
Drivers often need to maintain contact with their passengers when the passenger leaves the vehicle. For example, when conducting errands, a passenger might enter a store only to have to come back to the car to ask an awaiting driver a question. Cellular telephones can be used to keep drivers and passengers in communication with each other, but the use of cellular telephones is attendant with difficulties. For example, there must be two cellular phones available for use, there may be no service where the car is parked, and the telephones"" battery might be drained. Moreover, the use of cellular phones requires dialing and often is associated with usage charges. radios also can be used to maintain communication between the driver and the passenger; however, in order for those devices to function, they must be tuned to a common frequency, have charged batteries, and be carried by both the driver and the passenger. Manually tuning the two-way radios to a common frequency with low noise at the present location of the vehicle creates a further impediment to their use.
What is needed in the art is a convenient communication system and method that enables communication between a person in a vehicle and a passenger outside of the vehicle. The present invention satisfies this and other needs.
The present invention relates to electronic communication systems, and, more particularly, to a system and method for providing toll-free, local communication between a person within a vehicle and a passenger who has left the vehicle.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a communication system is combined with a car and includes a first communicator which is fixedly connected to the car, a harness which is also fixedly connected to the car and which has a first set of contacts, a second communicator which has its own, second set of contacts arranged to engage the first set of contacts when the second communicator is seated in the harness, and a synchronization circuit. The second communicator is movably positionable relative to the car when removed from the harness to permit a passenger to communicate with a person in the vehicle while the passenger is outside of the vehicle. The communicators convey audio messages over any one of a plurality of channels at any given moment, and the synchronization circuit is coupled to the communicators and operates to synchronize or maintain a common, low-noise communication channel in both communicators while the second communicator is absent from the harness.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for communicating with a person in a car from a remote location. The method includes the steps of providing a car with a first communicator fixedly connected to the car, a harness that is fixedly connected to the car, and a second communicator that is movably positionable relative to the car and selectively enagagable with the harness. Just as in the communication system referred to above, the first and second communicators are operable to communicate with each other over any one of a plurality of channels at any given moment. The method includes the further steps of synchronizing the frequency at which the first and second communicators communicate while the second communicator is absent from the harness and automatically activating the first and second communicators at the synchronized frequency while the second communicator is absent from the harness.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, a method for a person in one vehicle to communicate with a person in another vehicle is disclosed. That method comprises the steps of providing at least a first communicator in an initiating vehicle and in a recipient vehicle, the communicators being operable over a range of frequencies, transmitting a control signal from the initiating vehicle, the control signal identifying the transmission frequency that is presently being used by the initiating vehicle, receiving the control signal at the recipient vehicle, and synchronizing a presently operative transmission frequency in the communicator in the recipient vehicle to coincide with the transmission frequency presently being used by the communicator in the initiating vehicle.